


Nein for a Night

by ashley_in_the_know



Series: The Greyskull Chronicles [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 20:11:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17148347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashley_in_the_know/pseuds/ashley_in_the_know
Summary: my 2018 Winter's Crest Gift Exchange present for Katie, aka ravenspaladinwhen the rest of Vox Machina abandons him in Emon for the holidays, Vax makes some...interesting new friends





	Nein for a Night

A light dusting of snow is just starting to coat the streets of Emon as Vax leaves Greyskull Estates and heads for Abdar’s Promenade and his favorite bar. The last of his roommates had abandoned him for their Winter’s Crest vacations today, and he’s already twitching from the oppressive solitude of an empty house. His work schedule is keeping him in the city longer than everyone else, which means he has four days of loneliness ahead of him before he can join Keyleth in Zephrah, and then eventually Vex and Percy in Whitestone.

It’s not exactly something he’s been looking forward to.

 _Gilmore’s_ is more subdued than Vax has ever seen when he finally pushes through the door. Given that Emon is a notorious college town, and that Abdar’s Promenade is  _the_ Saturday night hot spot, it shouldn’t surprise him that business would die down once classes were out of session. But Vax is usually riding that first wave out of town once break hits, so he’s never actually  _seen_ the bar this quiet.

Jarett waves at him from behind the bar, and Vax has to bite back his disappointment that it isn’t Gilmore himself. It’s probably for the best, though. He has a tendency to do stupid, reckless shit when he’s bored and lonely. And he’s already caused Shaun enough pain to cover multiple lifetimes. So yeah, it’s best that it’s Jarett.

Still, he can’t seem to help himself. “Boss man not here tonight?” he asks, taking his regular spot at the bar.

Jarett chuckles. “No, I am afraid Mr. Gilmore is in Marquet visiting his family,” he says, and Vax thinks he detects a hint of jealousy. “But he did instruct me to wish a Happy Winter’s Crest to any member of Vox Machina that stops in, especially you.”

Vax sighs as Jarett hands over his usual. “That’s sweet of him,” he says. “Wish him the same when you get the chance, from all of us, of course.”

“Of course,” Jarett says with a smile. “Speaking of...can I expect any more of your charming friends tonight?”

“Nah, it’s just me,” he replies, taking a sip. “Pike and Grog left for Westruun today, so I’m all alone in that big old house until Tuesday.”

“Right, right,” Jarett says, nodding. “Vex’ahlia was telling me that the Clasp is working you until Crest’s Eve. There was a lot of scowling...and drinking.”

Vax laughs. “Yeah, well.” He shrugs. “Low man on the totem pole, you know how it is.”

Jarett nods. “That I do, my friend.” He hesitates for a moment, and Vax thinks he might be blushing. “When you get the chance, would you tell your sister that, ah, I will miss seeing her around while she’s in Whitestone?”

Vax frowns, sips his drink as menacingly as possible. “You do realize that my sister is dating Percy, right?”

He nods again. “I do,” he says, and yeah, he’s definitely blushing now. “You can pass along the message to Percival as well,” he says, winking.

Vax groans, but nevertheless, he pulls out his phone and makes a show of texting his sister. It all backfires a few minutes later when her reply comes through.

**_tell him that if he can get his ass to Whitestone, Percy’s bed is big enough for three ;) ;) ;)_ **

He shoves his phone in Jarett’s face, burying his face in his arms as the bartender laughs. “I hate you both,” he groans. “Remind me why I come here again?”

Jarett gives him a shit-eating grin reminiscent of his own. “Because Gilmore only sells the good shit, and he gives you an employee discount despite not a single one of you  _actually_ being an employee.”

 “Touche,” Vax says begrudgingly. “Just...leave me out of anything involving my sister from now on, alright?”

Jarett wanders off to tend to the few regulars inhabiting the bar, and Vax is left to his own devices for a while. He’s just signalling for a second drink when a gust of cold air and animated chatter announce the arrival of new patrons. Vax turns on instinct, his eyebrows flying towards his hairline at the sight before him.

Most of the chatter seems to be coming from the two tieflings leading the pack, one purple, one blue, both immediately attention grabbing. They’re followed closely by a half-orc, a trio of humans, a very small, hooded  _something_ that could be a halfling (if one didn’t look too hard), and a firbolg with a pink mohawk.

The blue tiefling kisses the half-orc on the cheek and pushes him towards the bar, while the rest of the group makes a bee line for an empty table near the karaoke stage.

Vax studies the half-orc as he leans on the bar, waiting on Jarett. He’s kind of small for a half-orc, tall but lean, built more like the swimmer Keyleth had dated a few semesters back than the wrestler Grog had a fling with last summer. He’s Percy levels of handsome, too, and Vax might actually give him a go if it weren’t for the little, blue girl staring dreamily at him from across the bar.

Jarett sweeps over, interrupts Vax’s musings. “Sorry about the wait, sir. What can I get for you?”

The half-orc makes a show of considering for a moment more, drumming his fingers on the bar. “We’ll start off with a pitcher of whichever ale the house recommends,” he drawls, and that is  _not_ an accent Vax has heard anywhere in Tal’Dorei, and now he’s even more intrigued. “Six glasses with that, if you don’t mind. Two bottles of whatever you’ve got that will, and I quote, ‘fuck us up real good’, one large glass of chocolate milk, if you’ve got it, but whole milk is fine if you don’t. Oh, and some hot water so my friend can make himself some tea, again if you don’t mind.”

Jarett doesn’t so much as blink. “We can certainly accommodate all of your requests, though I will, of course, have to check everyone’s IDs, especially the small ones.”

“Of course,” he replies, and Vax catches a glimpse of barely-there tusks poking through as he smiles.

Jarett disappears again, and Vax’s curiosity gets the better of him. “I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that the chocolate milk is for your girlfriend?”

The half-orc lets out a startled laugh, a deep blush staining his cheeks as he glances at the blue tiefling, and  _damn_ Vax would kill to have someone look at him like that. “You’d be guessing right,” he says with a nod.

“I’m Vax, by the way,” he says, sticking out a hand.

“Fjord,” the half-orc says, shaking his hand briefly.

“Sorry if I made things weird,” Vax says, sipping his drink. “It’s just that you and your friends are the most interesting thing I’ve seen in a while.”

Fjord laughs. “Yeah, we kinda stick out like a sore thumb, don’t we?”

Vax grins. “Honestly? It’s the firbolg.”

Fjord laughs even harder. “Deuce’ll be real happy to hear that.”

He studies Fjord for a moment. “You lot aren’t from around here, are you?”

Fjord shakes his head. “Gods, no. We’re all from Wildemount in one way or another, but we all met at the Soltryce Academy in Zadash. We’re on break until after New Dawn, and figured we might as well see more of the world than our own backyards, y’know?”

Vax nods. “I’ve done a bit of that myself,” he says. “If you ever get the chance to visit Marquet, take it. It’s hot as balls, but  _gods_ is it beautiful.”

Fjord grins. “I’ll take that into consideration,” he says. “And may I make the same recommendation about the Menagerie Coast? Port Damali and Nicodranus especially are not to be missed.”

Jarett reappears with Fjord’s order, and the half-orc follows him across the bar, giving Vax a small wave as he leaves.

He isn’t alone for more than ten minutes before a clawed finger is poking him on the shoulder. He turns to see the blue tiefling beaming up at him.

“Hi, I’m Jester,” she says, launching into a spiel before he can reply. “So, Fjord said that you seemed like you were really nice and really cool, and you just looked really lonely sitting at the bar  _all by yourself_ , so we were wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out with us for a while?”

Vax just stares at her for a minute. “Do I...have a choice?”

Jester giggles. “Of course, silly. We’re not going to, like, kidnap you or anything. We just thought that you might want some company, you know?” She sighs when he continues to hesitate. “Will you come sit with us if we pay for all of your drinks tonight?”

He shrugs at Jarett, who’s been listening in the entire time, tosses back the rest of his drink, and gets up to follow Jester. “Yeah, alright.”

Jester is already introducing her friends to him as they walk over. “The girl that Fjord is arm-wrestling right now is Beau.” She drops her voice to a stage whisper. “She’s totally about to kick his ass, though.” Sure enough, Fjord’s arm hits the table with a loud crack, followed by a triumphant “Hah!”.

The purple tiefling pulls a chair out for Vax with his tail as they approach. “That’s Molly,” Jester says, plopping down on Fjord’s lap. “Next to him is Caduceus.” The firbolg looks up from his tea with a slow smile. “Then Yasha and Beau.” The two human women he’d seen, though, up close, Yasha reminds him more of the two aasimar boys that Vex had fostered once. “You’ve already met Fjord, and last but not least, there’s Nott and Caleb.”

The man barely looks up from his book to acknowledge Vax, but his little friend looks up from her flask with giant yellow eyes and a crooked smile, and Vax decides that Scanlan never needs to know this particular detail of tonight.

Beau leans back in her chair, crosses her arms. “So, who the fuck are you?”

Fjord sighs, pinches the bridge of his nose. “Beau, remember when we talked about being  _polite_ to people?”

“Yes, but it all went in one ear and out the other,” Molly says, grinning as Beau flips him off. He turns to Vax. “Just ignore her, dear, we all do.”

“Fuck you, Tealeaf,” Beau says with no venom, tossing back a shot of what looks like Courage. Vax is at least glad that Jarett chose to keep the Sandkeg wine locked up.

“To answer your question, who the fuck I am is Vax,” he says. “Local nursing student, stuck in town until my boss decides I can go see my sister for the holidays.”

“Oooh, you have a sister?” Jester asks, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Is she as pretty as you are?”

Vax shrugs. “Well, we are  _practically_ identical.”

Molly grins. “Which is absolutely twin speak for ‘I think I’m prettier, but I would never actually say it out loud’,” he says. Vax raises an eyebrow at him and he just winks. “There was a pair of twins at the foster home that raised me and Yasha. Lovely girls, but  _boy_ were they the epitome of sibling rivalry.”

“Yeah, that’s me and Vex, alright,” Vax says with a laugh. “She’s my favorite person in the world, but sometimes I just wanna lock her in a closet. Mostly when she’s pestering me about my love life...or lack thereof.”

More than a few eyebrows go up at that statement. Molly leans a little closer. “I find it  _very_ hard to believe that someone as attractive as you is single.” He pauses momentarily. “With the exception of Caleb, I suppose.”

Caleb looks up from his book with a frown. “ _Wie bitte?”_

Molly just gives him a winning smile. “No offense meant, of course.”

Caleb gives him a wary glance before returning to his book. “None taken, I suppose?”

“Anyway,” Vax says, clearing his throat awkwardly. “In my case, I’m just an emotional disaster,” he says. “Which I have on good authority from several close friends, and not  _just_ my sister.”

Molly considers him for a moment. “Give me your phone.”

Vax frowns. “What? Why?”

Molly sighs, holds his hand out. “Just trust me, alright.” Vax hands his phone over reluctantly, and the tiefling types furiously for a minute before handing it back. “There, now you have my number,” he says. “I give  _excellent_ relationship advice, darling. If you ever need to talk about anything at all, don’t hesitate to give me a buzz.”

“Um, thanks,” Vax says, tucking his phone away. “So,” he starts, “Fjord mentioned that you all met at school? I know it’s a cliched question, but what are you all studying?”

Caduceus, shockingly, is pre-med, though he also leads the school’s Environmental Club and Botany Club. (The more he talks, the more Vax wants to introduce him to Keyleth...and maybe the Sun Tree.) Molly and Yasha are both studying theater, though Yasha’s focus is behind the scenes, where Molly’s is the stage. Jester is getting an art degree. Fjord and Caleb are both studying magic. Beau is on an athletic scholarship, but she’s double majoring in history and political science. Nott is undecided.

“I guess magic wouldn’t be  _awful_ ,” she hedges, “especially since Fjord and Caleb have the books already, and they could help me out if I got really stuck. But I also really like science, especially chemistry. Chemistry is cool.”

Vax nods. “You know, my future brother-in-law is pretty awesome at science. And he’s kind of an actual genius. So, if you wanted to go the science route, I could probably get you connected with him.”

She looks genuinely flattered. “That’s very kind of you to offer,” she says. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”

* * *

 

Vax discovers that it doesn’t take long for Jester to get bored, and soon they’re all gathered around the pool table, watching her take on Beau. He’s already called dibs on the winner, and while Jester has more power, Beau has more precision, and the little tiefling is cheerfully getting her ass kicked.

Caleb sidles up next to him, and he’s been so quiet all night that Vax actually startles when he speaks. “You are aware that Mollymauk was flirting with you earlier,  _ja_?”

Vax shrugs. “Well, yeah, but I just assumed that’s his perpetual state of being,” he says, nodding to the bar, where Molly is currently laying on the charm with Jarett.

Caleb’s smile is equal parts fond and sad. “You would, ah, not be wrong there.”

Vax knows pining when he sees it, had to endure far too much of it from both Vex’ahlia and Percy before they got their heads out of their asses, so he turns his attention back to the game, just in time to see Jester sink the 8-ball far too early.

“Shit, balls, mother  _bitch_ ,” she curses as Beau pumps her fist in victory.

“Pay up, Jessie,” she crows, holding her hand out expectantly. Jester rolls her eyes, but hands over a hundred dollar bill with a good-natured smile.

“Good game, Beau.”

Beau turns to Vax with a grin, a predatory gleam in her eyes. “What do you say, ‘lonely rando we met at the bar’?” She holds up the hundred dollars. “Double or nothing?”

* * *

 

Vax leaves  _Gilmore’s_ that night two hundred dollars richer, the laughter of new friends still ringing in his ears, and a string of text messages from a very drunk Mollymauk Tealeaf lighting up his phone.

He ignores Molly’s outrageous flirting, pulls up his earlier conversation with his sister and taps out a message.

**_you’ll never believe the night I just had..._ **

 


End file.
